1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable computer, and more particularly, to a portable computer combined with a detachable keyboard module to facilitate the adjustment of a position of a display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computing devices have become an indispensable part of our daily life. With the fast development of touch technologies, most hand-held devices or electronic devices such as tablet PCs, smart phones, and PDAs now provide touch panels instead of mouse or keyboard as input devices. These devices are equipped with operating systems supporting touch functions to enable intuitive and convenient operation.
The notebook computer, however, is equipped with a QWERTY keyboard and an input device such as a touch pad, and the operating system previously installed on the notebook may not support touch input function or may not be designed for touch in terms of the operation interface design. Therefore, traditionally pure notebooks rarely have touch requirements or touch design. However, operating system vendors have designed operating systems for laptops allowing touch control of the operating system. On the other hand, consumer demand for the touch operation by a tablet computer or smartphone is also growing; therefore, the demand for a notebook that can be transformed into a tablet computer exists. In order to facilitate a display screen to rotate and transform relative to the notebook computer itself, in the prior art, a support arm or linked component has been used to support and pivotally connect the notebook with the display screen, which is operated in coordination with the corresponding sliding assembly such that the position of the display screen can be successfully changed.
For example, a portable computer disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 1316666 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,184,263B1) employs a plate supporting element to support a display screen and provides guide slots in both sides of a keyboard for the bottom of the display screen to slide relative to the computer body, such that the display screen can be disposed upright. In Taiwan Patent No. 566583, a display screen of a notebook can be flipped relative to a base through the design of a plurality of linkage mechanisms in both sides thereof to change the screen display direction.
However, in view of a structure where a display screen rotates relative to a computer body in the aforementioned conventional design, since the computer body is generally provided with a keyboard module, the corresponding sliding elements disposed within the computer body must be away from the keyboard module to work smoothly without interference. Accordingly, such sliding elements are mostly confined at both sides of the keyboard module and must be a paired symmetrical structure, such that the display screen can be moved in a balanced manner. In such design, components that mostly comprise complex linkage mechanisms for pivoting, linkage, and sliding need to be provided and operated to achieve the flip effect, which is less favorable for the assembly and operation of the notebook. Also, since the mechanism may be too complex and supporting and linkage mechanisms may be exposed at both sides thereof, it is not only visually unattractive, but a user's fingers may be accidentally pinched during slide operations. In addition, the supporting mechanisms at both sides need to be considered and kept in a symmetric steady state while the display screen is sliding and moving, for the uneven force on the two sides may cause it not to slide smoothly due to resistance. Furthermore, once one side is damaged, the display screen cannot be flipped successfully.
Therefore, it is indeed a worthy subject to design a structure of the portable computer that is unobstructed by a keyboard module and to provide a stable slide and flip effect.